In some of the earlier seasons, there were editors who were that subtle with the snark and timeline clues (four to nine, perhaps.) And then a new group came in that tended to be too literal-minded, and stopped telling us little details like how much money teams go and when they left the pitstop.

In some of the earlier seasons, there were editors who were that subtle with the snark and timeline clues (four to nine, perhaps.) And then a new group came in that tended to be too literal-minded, and stopped telling us little details like how much money teams go and when they left the pitstop.

I know...why did the Race producers stop telling the dollar amounts and departure times? I have noticed this odd trend as well.

I thnk they are going to play up the diversion.......especially since it also happened on the flight from Hong Kong on the way to Japan. They could be setting up for the eliminations of those teams that were on that flight. It will make for good drama for the normal people that dont read spoilers.

This shot was taken between 12:13 and 12:27 pm (assumes November 20th).

Okay...I give up?? HOW can you tell time by a rainbow?? Ask a leprechaun?

I'm so glad you asked!

Rainbows only exist in the eyes of those who see them. There is nothing but a mist of water drops at the spot where we see a rainbow. They were first figured out by the Frenchman Rene Descartes in 1637. Here is a good place to see the physics of the rainbow. The long an short of it is that the sunlight comes from behind us, enters the distant water drop at about a 60 degree angle with respect to the drop's surface normal, reflects off the inside back-surface of the drop, exits the front of drop (not the same place as it came in), and then proceeds to our eyes. There is a precise, color-dependent angle between our eyes, the drop , and the Sun: 40 to 42 degrees. At each passage from air-to-water and water-to-air the sunlight is dispersed into its component colors. The higher energy colors: Blue, Indigo, Violet are more strongly dispersed. That's why the rainbow colors go, in order from the outside to the inside: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.

So, in the promo photo, there are two ways to use the rainbow to give the time of day. One is to estimate the angle from horizontal up to the top of the bow. Subtract that from 40 degrees and that gives the Solar altitude. The Solar altitude gives two possible times of day (one for AM and one for PM). The other way to use the Rainbow (and this was what I used) is to recognize that the top of the bow gives the direction to the Sun. The Sun is 180 degrees from the top of the bow. So all you have to do is know where the shot was taken and make a line from there to where the picture shows the top of the bow. In our shot I used the mountain peaks in the distance to make a vector. From that you get the Solar azimuth. There is one time of day for any given Solar Azimuth.

The aerial tram is in a canyon on the NE side of Mt San Jacinto, just west of the NW part of Palm Springs. There is a good road out of the canyon to that major road.

I doubt if it will prove to be of any use, but I rode on that aerial tram about 20 to 25 years ago. I don't remember it well enough to know where it was relative to the starting line. It was an interesting ride as there were several (5?) climatic regimes on the mountain from the desert floor at the bottom to an alpine environment at the top. I did some hiking on one or two of the trails at the top. I also remember having a good meal at the restaurant at the top of the tram.

I too rode it in the 1970s. I remember those climate zones. The temperature difference between the top and the canyon floor was 40 degrees, which I understood to be typical.